My kitten is always hungry. What should I do?

Our kitten is formerly an outdoor cat. She lived briefly with her mom outdoors,before becoming a full time indoor cat. And, she seems to love being indoors very much. But, there is one big problem. We have two other full grown cats. And, they have not taken so well to the new kitten.
Well, that's not really the big problem. The big problem is that the kitten is constantly hungry. Even though I feed her many times daily, she is always asking for more. So, I'm wondering if the older cats are stealing her food just to be mean to her. Do cats do that kind of thing? How do you keep it from happening so that all cats get their fair share?

I think cats absolutely will try to steal food just to be mean. My cat is a big bully with one of my other cats. Every time he goes near the food dish she runs over to start a fight with him and scare him away. I try to make sure she is outside when he comes in to eat.
When we got my daughter a kitten the adult cats would try to eat her food also and she would run and hide, so we started giving her a small bowl and putting her in the bathroom with the door closed so she could eat without the adults bothering her.
After a while once she got a little older, she started standing up to them and we were able to stop feeding her in the bathroom.
Eventually all 4 cats put themselves on a schedule where they were the only one eating at that time. Unless the dish has been empty they all eat at different times now so there are no problems except for my bully cat but I do what I can to help that situation. She is only a bully to my one male cat.
They all eat only twice per day, but it is staggered.

First of all, if the kitten hasn't been to the vet, you should take her and make sure she doesn't have worms. A tape worm would make her hungry all the time. She may have picked one up when she lived outside.
If you know that worms aren't the problem, I would start feeding the cats at fixed times during the day and watching to make sure that no one is stealing anyone else's food. Put down a certain amount of food for each cat, and then pick it up after ten or fifteen minutes. If they are used to food being out all the time, they may complain at first, but they will get used to the routine eventually.

No need to be scared of tapeworms. My cat had them twice, and it only takes a little medicine from the vet to get rid of. If the cats all share a litterbox, the other two may have picked up worms from the kitten, so you should get them checked if the kitten tests positive. As long as you catch and treat the worms early, there shuldn't be any lasting damage to the cat.

I would be treating them all for worms in any case....no need to get it checked. That would be an added expense. Dogs and cats should be wormed on a regular basis especially if they share a litter box, are spending time outdoors or socialise with other animals.
Cats like to eat all through the day rather than just one, two or three meals. So, just keep an eye on things if you can.
I feed my animals inside and my cat gets fed on a big bar stool so the dog can't get his food. You can't really separate cats for no matter where you put the food the others will get it.
Also, I would put the other cats in a spare room for a while and let the other cat have the house to itself so it can explore and gain some confidence. It's probably quite intimidated byt he whole scenario. Best wishes and good luck to you.

I agree with the first responder to your discussion, it sounds as if kitty may have contracted one of those pesky worms! Take kitty to a vet soon to determine. It's a simple and affordable fix. If no worms are present, the vet will also help you determine which food to feed kitty.

There is no need to go to the expense and put the cat through the trauma of going to the vet. Just treat them all for worms. If they don't have them it won't hurt them. Dogs and cats both need to have regular worm treatments.

Worms can make a cat hungry all the time. Take her to the vet.
Secondly, leave a bowl of dry kibble out all the time. I have 3 bowls out becuase I have 16 cats, but that food is out 24/7 and they can eat whenever they feel like eating. It saves me a ton of money on canned food. I'd lose my house if all I did was feed them canned food every day. That stuff gets expensive and a bag of dry cat food lasts me about a week or so.

I know "They" say that you should not leave the bowl out all the time but I do it as well. We only have 4 cats but I just keep the bowl full and they eat when they want but all of them only eat twice a day. None of them are overweight, unless you count the two long haired ones, but only when they get wet. LOL

I have 2 cats and 2 kittens, They eat like pigs, poop like dogs and sound like elephants running thru the house. My cats eat all the time and still act like they are starving all the time. Thats normal.

We kept our cats food bowl full all of the time. She ate a lot at first, but over time she self regulated. With an outdoor cat they try to eat everything all at once because they aren't sure when they will get more food so they get over protective of the food that they do get.

It's posible that other cats steal food. My 5 weeks old kitten starts meowing when it want's to eat, but after it finishes, you just CANT force it to eat more, it will be just going away from the dish, and if I'm trying more it starts bitting me (thinks that I want to play0

Everything I was thinking has been said already but I'll through my 2 cents in here anyway. The older cats very well could be stealing her food since they are bigger...think about what happens to the runt of the litter. Or it could also be worms. We have 8 cats right now and are dealing with this very problem. We're trying to get them all taken are of but it seems like we can't get them all worm fee at the same time. This was a particularly difficult week as they would go through an entire bag of cat food in a day and be begging and whining for more. So we'll be trying the whole "deworming" process again and hopefully this time it will work for all of them all at once.

I only ever have one cat so I have never had the acceptance problem, I guess kittens do eat a bit as they are still growing but are you sure it doesn't have worms, a lot of kittens do get worms...I hope you solve your problem...

The cat world is so much like the people world. It could be that the older cats are stealing her food. To make sure that she gets the food that is hers, I would suggest that you feed her in a separate place and stay with her until she is done. If she still seems hungry it might just means that she needs a little extra attention being that she is not with her mom.
DCMerkle

My kitten is always hungry too. Well I know it's winter now but he really gained a lot of weight. During the summer he becomes bones and skin. I prefer him in winter because he is so nice and like to be at home a lot. He is very strange cat. He has different sounds for different kind of food. he is very sweet.